Roller attachment for multilith printing press



p 29, 1964 G. w. SENOGLES ROLLER ATTACHMENT FOR MULTILITH PRINTING PRESS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 19, 1962 INVENTOR. Glen W. Smog/es Sept. 29, 1964 G. w. SENOGLES 3,150,589

ROLLER ATTACHMENT FOR MULTILITH PRINTING PRESS Filed March 19, 1962 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 24 I IN 1 .2- 516 i 5 1 .9

in! 4 3k '|\m 70 305* v m /04 54 40 ML {54" M z INVENTOR. 30 44 d2 52 40 46 Glen W. Senog/es United States Patent 3,150,589 ROLLER ATTACHMENT FOR MULTILITH PRKNTING PRESS Glen W. Senogles, 2335 Maryland St., Topeka, Kans. Filed Mar. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 180,643 1 Claim. (Cl. 101-350) This invention relates generally to rotary type printing presses and particularly to a novel attachment adapted to be mounted on present multilith printing presses to increase the utility of printing equipment of this type and to minimize difiiculties that have been encountered heretofore with respect to depositing sufiicient amounts of ink on required areas of sheets being passed through the printing apparatus.

Multilith printing units have enjoyed wide popularity for a long period of time because of the versatility of the same coupled with reasonable cost and maintenance thereof. However, certain inherent problems have arisen in the utilization of multilith presses, especially in those instances wherein it is necessary to lay a relatively heavy layer of ink on one portion of a sheet to be printed, whereas much lighter amounts of ink are to be deposited on other portions of the paper. The difiiculties are particularly acute in half-tone work wherein the different shades on the final printed sheet serve to distinguish one object from another and also to impart simulated depth to the reproduction. Another area of the printing field wherein the present multilith presses have serious limitations, is in multicolor work wherein certain of the colors on the sheet are relatively heavy, whereas subsequent colors may be considerably lighter or in the alternative, much darker than the initially applied shades.

It has been determined that the primary difliculty in the utilization of multilith presses for all types of printing work, is the inability to supply sufiicient amounts of ink to the press cylinder so as to prevent formation of gray areas or ghosts on the sheet attributable to an inadequate ink supply during running of the sheets. For example, if one portion of the sheet to be printed must have a very heavy layer of ink thereon, while adjacent portions of the paper are to be completely free of ink, or

have only very light quantities of ink applied thereto, it can be appreciated that practical problems are presented in supplying relatively large amounts of ink to only a small portion of the paper, whereas varying amounts of ink are supplied to other portions of the press cylinder transversely of the outer cylindrical face thereof. Proper supply of ink to the press cylinder can be accomplished in part by adjusting the ink fountain of the press so that larger amounts of ink are released from certain portions of the fountain and in alignment with the areas of the sheet requiring heavier layers of ink thereon. This does not completely solve the problem however, inasmuch as the roller train extending from the ink fountain to the press cylinder tends to smooth the ink out into a relatively uniform coating on each cylinder prior to the ink being transferred directly onto the press cylinder. This is especially true in view of the fact that a number of the rollers in the train extending from the ink fountain to the press cylinder are of the oscillating type which more evenly direct the ink from one roller to another. It can be appreciated that when the ink fountain is opened up 'to deliver more ink to the roller train coupled to the press cylinder, excessive quantities of ink are supplied to the outer face of the press cylinder over the entire area thereof, and therefore the ink tends to spread out from the heavily coated areas and resulting in poor final prints and lack of uniformity between the final sheets. Cutting down on the ink from the fountain has the exactly opposite result whereupon the areas which need heavy coatings of ink, are gray in appearance and also producing a printed sheet which does not meet specifications.

It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide an inking attachment for multilith printing presses or similar units, adapted to overcome the problems set forth above and supply required amounts of ink to the press cylinder of the machine regardless of the type of printing operation undertaken with the press.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a roller attachment for multilith printing presses wherein the rollers of the attachment provide an effective total surface area equal to at least one-half of the total surface area of the rollers of the conventional train of the machine, so that a much larger supply of ink is carried by the rollers at all times and assuring delivery of needed amounts of ink to the press cylinder of the machine even under conditions where heavy layers of ink must be applied to certain portions of the sheets being passed through the printing machine;

A still further important object of the invention is to provide an inking attachment for multilith presses wherein the auxiliary rollers of the attachment are arranged to provide a second path for fiow of ink from the fountain of the press, to the press cylinder thereof, to thereby assure that required amounts of ink are furnished to the press cylinder notwithstanding the fact that certain areas of the cylinder may need much larger quantities of ink supplied thereto, than other areas on the cylinder.

Another important aim of the invention is to provide a roller attachment for printing presses of the multilith type wherein the auxiliary rollers of the attachment include a number of oscillating rollers which serve to maintain the ink coating on the rollers relatively uniform and especially operating to preclude overloading of the press cylinder with ink while at the same time maintaining sufficient ink in reserve on the roller train to meet all requirements of the press cylinder regardless of the type of material being printed by the apparatus.

Also an important object of the invention is to provide an attachment as described which may be constructed and distributed at a reasonable price, that produces results more etliciently and expeditiously than prior attachments, and may be easily placed on a conventional multilith machine, or quickly removed therefrom as required for a particular printing operation.

Other important objects and details of the present attachment will become obvious or be explained in greater detail as the following specification progresses.

illustrating the roller attachment of the present invention removably mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is in enlarged, side elevational view of the roller attachment of the present invention illustrating the same removed from the multilith press, and with one of the rollers forming a part of the conventional train of the press, being illustrated in dotted lines to indicate the normal disposition thereof when the attachment is mounted on the press;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, plan view of the roller attachment as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of the press cylinder, form roller, ink fountain, ductor roller and the roller train associated therewith forming a part of a conventional multilith printing press, and with the normal flow path of the ink being indicated by the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of the roller train of a multilith press as illustrated in FIG. 4, and showing the normal disposition of the auxiliary rollers mounted on the attachment of the present invention,

2.3 and their relative positions with respect to the multilith roller train;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, end elevational view of the right-hand corner of the attachment as shown in FIG. 3, and illustrating a portion of the releasable means employed to secure the attachment to the supporting structure of the press.

A conventional multilith printing press and which may be any one of the 1200 Class presses, is broadly numerated 10 in the drawings and includes a housing 12 having a rearwardly extending roller support 14 including a pair of upright, parallel, horizontally spaced wall units 16 located above the paper support 18 of press 10. Water supply apparatus 20 carried by support 14 forms no part of the present invention and has been illustrated only to show the normal relationship of the latter with respect to the ink roller attachment 22 which is removably mounted on support 14 as illustrated in FIG. 1.

Attachment 22 which is adapted to provide a second path of travel of ink from the fountain of press 10 to the press cylinder thereof, and in addition to the normal ink transfer roller train carried by support 14, is illustrated per se in FIGS. 2, 3 and 6 and includes a pair of opposed side wall members 24 and 26 which are interconnected by spacer elements 28 and 30 that operate to maintain wall members 24 and 26 in parallel, horizontally spaced relationship. The wall members 24 and 26 serve as means for mounting four auxiliary rollers which are broadly designated 32, 34, 36 and 38 and are in pre-arranged relationship and are also of preselected relative diameters as will be explained hereinafter.

As will be readily apparent to those familiar with multilith presses, the upper horizontal margins of wall units 16 are of irregular configuration and have a series of vertical, open-top slots therein for receiving mounting blocks that carry a number of the rollers forming the conventional ink transfer roller train of press 16 and mounted on roller support 14. Therefore, the lowermost margins 40 of wall members 24 and 26 are irregularly configured to generally conform to the upper margins of that portion of support 14 mounting attachment 22. For example, the downwardly extending, integral projections 42, 44 and 46 of each wall member 24 and 26, are of a size to be complementally received within corresponding, downwardly extending notches in wall units 16 and which slidably receive the mounting blocks for the rollers of the ink distribution roller train of press 10 as previously explained. In addition, each of the wall members 24 and 26 is provided with a relatively long, upwardly extending notch 48 in margin 40 between projections 42 and 44 for clearing the shaft 50 of a relatively large oscillating roller 52 which is indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 2, and is a part of the roller train of the multilith press.

The spacer element 28 may be formed of a piece of transversely circular bar stock secured to the end extensions 54 of wall members 24 and 26 by fasteners 56, whereas the spacer element 30 is cast from the same material as the cast wall members 24 and 26 and thereby has a generally transversely rectangular central elongated section 30a, and opposed, substantially trapezoidal end sections 30b which are adapted to be complementally received Within trapezoidal notches 58 formed in the extremities 60 of wall members 24 and 26. Fasteners 62 extending through trapezoidal sections 30b and into extremities 60 secure spacer element 30 to wall members 24 and 26. Integral extensions 300 at opposite ends of section 30a of spacer element 36, project downwardly and terminate only slightly below the margins 40 of wall members 24 and 26. As is best shown in FIG. 6, the outwardly facing surfaces 30d of extensions 30c are spaced inwardly from the outer margins of sections 3% so that the extensions 300 will clear the upper margins of Wall units 16, as the attachment 22 is positioned in 4 place on support 14. Screws 64 threaded through respective extensions 30c and normally projecting outwardly of surfaces 36d, are adapted to be shifted under the horizontal lips of corresponding upper margins of wall units 16 to removably secure the forwardmost end of attachment 22 to press 10.

In order to permit releasable connection of the other end of attachment 22 to the water supply apparatus 20 mounted on roller support 14, generally U-shaped lugs 66 are shiftably mounted on the upper faces of extensions 54 of wall members 24 and 26. Each of the lugs 66 has an upper horizontal wall section 68 integral with opposed, parallel leg sections 70 and 72 which embrace opposed faces of extensions 54. The wall section 68 of each of the lugs 66 has an elongated slot 74 therein for clearing corresponding fasteners 76 which are threaded into the upper faces of extensions 54. In this manner, lugs 66 may be rigidly secured to extensions 54 in any one of a number of positions longitudinally of corresponding extensions 54. As is best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the upper wall sections 68 of lugs 66 have inclined, downwardly directed surfaces 78 which are located to complementally engage downwardly facing surfaces on water supply apparatus 20. The rearwardly directed legs 80 are normally located outboard of the upright walls of apparatus 20 when attachment 22 is mounted on support 14 and serves to properly align the rollers of attachment 22 with the rollers of the ink transfer train normally forming a part of the press 10.

It can now be appreciated that the wall members 24 and 26 along with the spacer elements 28 and 30 define a frame unit serving to shiftably mount the rollers 32, 34, 36 and 38 for movement toward and away from the rollers of the ink transfer train of press 10, when attachment 22 is mounted on support 14. In order to permit limited movement of the auxiliary rollers of attachment 22 toward and away from the rollers on support 14, it is to be preferred that the upper margin 82 of each of the Wall members 24 and 26 be provided with a pair of downwardly extending, generally rectangular, horizontally spaced, parallel notches 84 and 86 which are in alignment across attachment 22 and serve to slidably receive opposed bearing blocks 88 of rollers 32 and 36 and which rotatably support the shafts 90 thereof, as is best illustrated in FIG. 2. The shafts 9t] mount ink transfer rollers of the non-oscillating type and which are of relatively small diameter with respect to the oscillating rollers 34 and 38.

The inner faces of wall members 24 and 26 are provided with vertical, horizontally aligned notches 92 which slidably receive elongated vertical blocks 94 that are in turn rigidly coupled to the shaft 96 of oscillating roller 34. The notches 92 slidably receiving blocks 94 are located intermediate notches 84 and 86 so that the oscillating roller 34 is in equal rolling engagement with the small diameter, nonoscillating rollers 32 and 36. Generally T-shaped pins 98 projecting outwardly from opposed ends of shaft 96 receive one end of a coil spring 99 which is also releasably hooked to perforated ears 100 projecting outwardly from opposed faces of wall members 24 and 26 directly in alignment with notches 92. The springs 99 serve to bias the oscillating roller 34 downwardly toward non-oscillating transfer rollers 32 and 36.

The margins 102 of wall members 24 and 26 are of irregular configairation as shown in FIG. 2 to define a generally J-shaped notch 104 in each wall member 24 and 26 and serve to receive the shaft 106 of oscillating roller 38. If desired, supporting blocks 108 may be provided on shaft 106 with the upper portion of each of the wall members 24 and 26 being cut away as at 110 for clearing corresponding blocks 108. It is to be observed that the oscillating rollers 34 and 38 are preferably of identical diameters and presenting substantially greater ink carrying surfaces than the non-oscillating transfer rollers 32 J and 36. The interior construction of oscillating rollers 34 and 38 has not been detailed inasmuch as these rollers are conventional in this field and well understood to those skilled in the printing art.

Reference is now made to the schematic representation in FIG. 4 wherein the normal roller train is illustrated in a multilith printing press of the 1200 Series Class. The ink fountain 112 is adapted to receive a supply of ink 114 with the fountain roller 116 located to deliver ink 114 from fountain 112 during rotation of roller 116. As is well known in printing equipment of this type, the lower plate 118 of fountain 112 includes a number of separate segments located immediately below roller 116 and which are separately controllable to vary the amount of ink delivered from fountain 112 in areas corresponding to the individual movable segments of plate 118.

The ductor roller 120 is mounted on linkage 122 for oscillating movement between fountain roller 116 and the first non-oscillating transfer roller 124 of the press roller train and which is located in greater spaced relationship from roller 116 than the diameter of ductor roller 120. A second non-oscillating, relatively small diameter transfer roller 126 is located above roller 124 and is in rolling engagement therewith. The transfer roller 126 is thereby positioned between transfer roller 124 and a relatively large, oscillating roller which has been designated 52 in FIG. 2. Another non-oscillating, small diameter transfer roller 128 is in engagement with the outer surface of os cillating roller 52 and is positioned in spaced relationship to transfer roller 126 and in a horizontal plane passing through the axis of the latter. The relatively large diameter, main oscillating roller 130 in rolling contact with transfer roller 128 is in simultaneous surface engagement with a pair of form rollers 132 and 134 that in turn engage the outer face of the press or impression cylinder 136. The normal path of flow of ink from the fountain 112 to the plate cylinder 136 is illustrated by the straight arrows passing through the axes of the individual rollers. It can therefore be seen that there is one path for the ink to flow from the ductor roller 120 to the main oscillating roller 130.

The attachment 22 is provided with four rollers and the relationship of these rollers with respect to the roller train of the multilith press as illustrated in FIG. 4, is shown schematically in FIG. wherein it can be seen that the non-oscillating transfer roller 32 is in engagement with the oscillating roller 52, while oscillating roller 38 is in contact with the form roller 132. In this schematic representation, the second path that ink may take from the ductor roller 120 to the form roller 132 is illustrated by straight arrows passing through the axes of the auxiliary rollers 32, 34, 36 and 38 of attachment 22. It is therefore apparent that a much larger supply of ink is available to the form roller 132 from fountain 112 and problems with respect to supply of ink to the press cylinder 136 are completely avoided. Of particular importance with respect to the addition of auxiliary rollers 32, 34, 36 and 38, is the fact that two of the rollers are of the oscillating type and are of relatively large size with respect to the surface area of form roller 132. For example, it has been de termined that the circumference area of the original train of rollers on a multilith press of the 1200 Series and not including form roller 132 or the ductor roller 126, is approximately equal to 270 square inches. Utilizing auxiliary rollers of the type shown in FIG. 5, adds about 180 square inches to the ink carrying surfaces of the roller train and providing approximately 65% greater ink reserve on the rollers for the form roller 132 during the printing operation.

In the utilization of a roller train as shown in FIG. 4, when it was desired to lay a relatively heavy amount of ink on a certain portion of a sheet, the operator of press it? normally opened up the segments of plate 118 aligned with the areas to be printed with heavy layers of ink and increasing the flow of ink to those portions of the rollers also aligned therewith. Thus, the ink tended to build up on the rollers at the areas thereof aligned with the segments of plate 118 which have been moved farther away from roller 116, and the ink thereby tended to lap over onto the adjacent portions of the ink transfer rollers, particularly because of the oscillating rollers forming a part of the roller train. To counterbalance the tendency of the ink to overlap from the portions of the rollers having a relatively heavy layer of ink thereon, the press operator normally increased the supply of water from apparatus 2G and which again resulted in problems in the printing operation because of the over-supply of water to the press. An excessive amount of water resulted in lightening of the prints because the image became too damp and would not take ink in a proper manner.

The problems referred to above have been completely solved by the utilization of attachment 22 inasmuch as a sufficient quantity of ink is furnished to the form roller 132 to handle all types of printing operations even though certain areas of the sheets are to be printed with a relatively heavy layer of ink, whereas other areas of the sheets are to be printed much lighter. The supply of ink to form roller 132 is maintained relatively constant regardless of the demand thereon, because of the large surface area presented by the rollers 32, 34, 36 and 38 in comparison with the surface areas of the rollers of the normal train of the multilith press, and also, it is no longer necessary to open up the segments of plate 118 to an extent which would cause overlapping of heavy areas of ink on the rollers as was previously a vexing problem to press operators.

The attachment 22 also has the advantages of being readily removable from the press when required to oper ate with the standard roller train, and also easily put on when the ink supply to form roller 132 is to be increased. The present attachment also is particularly designed to receive conventional oscillating and non-oscillating transfer rollers and particularly those of the type which are normally employed on multilith presses. Additionally, there is much more uniform control of ink directed onto the form roller 132, in view of the ultilization of two relatively large oscillating rollers on attachment 22, and control of moisture from the apparatus 20 is rendered much simpler and more accurate. There is less fill-in of ink on reverse printing and ghosting is eliminated or substantially minimized. Faster production is achieved with a conventional multilith press because the operator is not required to maintain the machine in an inoperable condition for as long as has been required in the past in order to properly deglaze the rollers. Additionally, there is much less paper waste, the sheets dry faster because there is a more even coating of ink on the individual sheets, and a harder finish paper may be used with less offset problems. These are only a few of the many advantages which inhere in utilization of attachment 22 on a multilith press and show the valuable utility of the attachment for use on new presses as Well as those presently in existence and being used.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

In a multilith type printing press having a press cylinder, at least one ink form roller in engagement with the press cylinder, an ink fountain spaced from the form roller, a ductor roller cooperable with the fountain, and a train of rollers operable to transfer ink from the ductor roller to the form roller and including an intermediate ink transfer roll of the oscillating type, the improvement of which comprises an inking attachment for said printing press comprising a frame unit adapted to be mounted on the press adjacent said train of rollers; and at least four auxiliary rollers mounted on the frame unit in series ink transferring relationship, one end roller of said auxiliary rollers being of a non-oscillating type, having a diameter substantially less than that of said intermediate transfer roll and being positioned to operatively engage the latter in spaced relationship to said form roller, the other end a second path of flow of ink from the intermediate transfer 10 roll to the form roller, the total surface area of the auxiliary rollers being at least approximately one half of the total surface area of the rollers of said press train to assure delivery of sufficient ink to the press cylinder from the form roller to permit utilization of the press for a 5 Wide range of printing jobs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Forbes Aug. 13, 1957 Harless Dec. 30, 1958 

